Advances in the Sign Language Development of Deaf Children

ISBN-13: 9780195180947 Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication date: 09/02/2005 Series: Perspectives on Deafness Edition description: New Edition Pages: 412 Sales rank: 1,137,765 Product dimensions: 9.48(w) x 6.66(h) x 0.95(d) The use of sign language has a long history. Indeed, humans' first languages may have been expressed through sign. Sign languages have been found around the world, even in communities without access to formal education. In addition to serving as a primary means of communication for Deaf communities, sign languages have become one of hearing students' most popular choices for second-language study. Sign languages are now accepted as complex and complete languages that are the linguistic equals of spoken languages. Sign-language research is a relatively young field, having begun fewer than 50 years ago. Since then, interest in the field has blossomed and research has become much more rigorous as demand for empirically verifiable results have increased. In t